Upper half of a partial-presure suit, c 1954.

A partial-presure suit covers the whole body and enables a pilot to operate the controls and land an aircraft if cabin presure is lost. When activated this cumbersome outfit inflates like a balloon. Test pilots at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (Rae) at Farnborough, Hampshire, tried the suit out but found it hard to move around in. They also found it fitted poorly with British aircraft controls. In 1956, the Rae replaced the partial-presure suit with a British-designed jerkin that only inflated a pilot's trunk and arms.